


High Hopes

by Yotsubadancesintherain5



Category: Bee and PuppyCat, Celeste (Video Game)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:02:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28018179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yotsubadancesintherain5/pseuds/Yotsubadancesintherain5
Summary: Madeline goes to an island and meets someone new.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	High Hopes

There was a specific beach on a specific island that Theo had told Madeline about, one that was bursting with whimsical serenity. And it was the sort of beach that was perfect for social media. Madeline reminded him that she didn’t have a cell phone but decided to go there anyway.

Madeline thought that bringing her car to this island would be too much of a hassle. So she took a regular boat to the island, and caught a bus to the beach. She had sleeping arrangements at a little hotel in the town. It had been a wonderful couple of days, going down to the beach and playing in the waves, and in the evening she explored the locale.

The sunset was a backdrop to the whimsical serenity that seemed to extend to the town. It seemed idyllic. Madeline did feel some regret that it was over when she had to leave.

She was waiting at the bus stop, her one luggage close and her backpack in her lap. She wore a sky blue sundress and comfortable sandals. It seemed appropriate for a beach town.

The bench she was sitting on was an old thing, the paint chipped away to nothing and showing the weathered wood underneath. There was a head of a nail that poked out in the middle of the bench and it looked sharp. Madeline would have to be wary of it and of splinters.

She dug around in her backpack and pulled out the box that contained her lunch. She studied her sandwich because she wasn’t quite hungry as she thought.

Madeline was startled out of her musings because a woman sat down on the bench.

This woman looked to be about Madeline’s age. She was wearing a cute dress shirt with ruffles at the collar and a skirt with colorful polka dots. Her hair was tangled and wind-swept, getting in her face but she didn’t seem to mind. She was wearing rain boots that had a pattern of frogs resting on lily pads. Her legs were swinging out.

Madeline heard the _loud_ grumbling of the woman’s stomach. Madeline picked up half of her sandwich.

“Here,” she said, offering it to the woman.

“Oh! Thanks!”

The woman took the sandwich and practically ate it in two bites.

“I’m Madeline. I came here for the beach.”

“Bee! That’s a good reason – for sand anyway, water is _eugh_.”

Madeline asked, “Besides sand, what brings you here?”

“I live here!” Bee exclaimed. “Not on the beach. On the island.”

She put her elbow on her knee, put her fist to her chin and grumbled.

“I was supposed to go on a job with Puppycat but something happened and I got left behind.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did something happen to your friend?”

“No, I just didn’t touch the envelope. He’ll be back!”

Madeline figured, “Touch the envelope,” was a cute way of saying Bee forgot her ID card.

Madeline talked about her own job a bit and it turned into a brief story of climbing up Celeste.

“That’s so cool!” Bee’s enthusiasm made Madeline smile. “I think the highest I’ve been was probably on a step stool to brush my teeth.”

That got a laugh out of Madeline. She asked about Bee’s job, found out they were actually odd jobs, and Bee got very animated talking about one.

“So I got to watch my show with the cats,” Bee said, drawing a map on the bench. “But Puppycat wasn’t able to – ow!”

Bee’s finger caught on the edge of the nail that was sticking up and the skin on the pad of her finger cut open.

Instead of a bead of blood welling up on the finger like Madeline expected a screw fell from Bee’s finger. It was the color of the sea.

Before Madeline climbed that mountain she would have jumped back at the sight. But she had conversations with the part of herself she tried to smother and push down.

Madeline took out a box of band-aids from her backpack. It was a brand that had a shooting stars design. She had bought it on impulse.

Madeline gave one of the band-aids to Bee, and gave the stray screw to her.

“Thanks,” Bee said, chipper, as she took the screw and put on the band-aid. “I hate when that happens.”

“No problem. So what happened?”

“Oh, so anyway, Puppycat got left out from seeing the show…”

They talked until Madeline noticed her bus would come soon.

“Let’s exchange numbers,” Bee said.

“I don’t have a smartphone, so I can’t text,” Madeline said.

“Me either! I like my old phone just fine. And I don’t have money for a new one.” Bee laughed at the end of saying this.

“I have email, though. Let me get some paper out for us…”

They finished exchanging information just as the bus rolled up.

Madeline got her luggage on the bus and sat by the window. She waved down at Bee. Bee waved with both hands until Madeline was out of sight.

Madeline had the paper in her hands and put it safely in her backpack. She smiled as she looked out the window, happy to have made a new friend.


End file.
